Angel Dust
by WingJade
Summary: What do you do when someone blames you for all their problems...and you don't know half of what's wrong?


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Warning, much angst-drama. Much. Mentions of drugs, sex, and alcohol. 

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Angel Dust

Chapter 1: What Do You Mean? 

"Yugi, where have you been?" Yami came stomping into the living room as he felt Yugi drop a few of his mental blocks and enter. "None of your business." 

"Are you aware that it is four in the morning, Yugi?" Yugi's jii-chan had joined the pair. "So?" 

Yami nearly screamed. "So? SO? So, you were supposed to be home at ten! We've been calling and looking for hours! And you blocked me, so I couldn't even tell where you were! Do you know how worried I've been? This is the third time you've been late this week!" //Not to mention that you smell like alcohol…//

Sugoroku held up a hand. "This discussion can be handled tomorrow, at a decent hour. For now, let's go to bed." Yugi smirked-too crude an expression for his face-and headed for his room. Sugoroku did the same, mumbling to himself. Yami transported himself to his soul room to try and relax a little. 

The following evening, Sugoroku sat his grandson down in his room to try and talk to him. Said grandson sat on his bed, fully dressed in immorally tight black jeans, red T-shirt, and black jean jacket. "Yugi, I'd like to know what you've been doing these last few nights."

"It's none of your business, I already told you that!"

The elderly man sighed. "Yes, it is Yugi. I am your guardian. Your parents left you to my care." Yugi stubbornly stared at the ceiling. "I want to help you with whatever's wrong." 

"Then just leave me alone! You never cared before. You never noticed what I did before. Why start now?"

"Yugi…I have always cared. I've always noticed."

The boy jumped off his bed. "Stop lying; you have not!" He went to his door and started to open it. He then paused, took off the puzzle, dropped it to the floor, and then left. "Where are you going, Yugi?" 

"Out! And don't you dare follow me!" Sugoroku did follow, but only to the end of the block. Short as Yugi was, he was young, and fast, and he was already long gone by the time the elderly man had reached the corner.

Yami knocked on Ryou's front door. He was their closest neighbor, and he'd already tried everyone else's house what felt like a million times over. A sleepy Ryou opened the door to find a tired Yami on his doorstep. "Yami-san?" 

"Hello. Have you seen Yugi?" 

Ryou shook his head. "No, he hasn't been by. Is-is he missing?" 

"No, not exactly, just extremely late-again. And he left the puzzle at home and he's completely blocked me. " 

"Who's at the door-Oh, hello, Pharaoh." 

"Tomb Robber." Ryou inwardly rolled his eyes. Their attraction for each other was so obvious. It had been a common conversation topic between him and Yugi-before Yugi had stopped really talking to anyone. "Well, since Yugi isn't here-." 

"I'm coming with you! Yugi-kun is my very important friend! And I want to help him!" 

Yami blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Very well. I'm using Yugi's grandfather's car; he's waiting at home. I thought I'd search the streets. Jounouchi and Honda already said they'd handle the upper half of town. Anzu was trying the police, but I don't think she got far. Kaiba said that he would handle any place it might be…difficult to get access to." Ryou grabbed a jacket, Bakura followed suit, and all three got into the small car. "You were willing to ask Kaiba for help?" 

"Yugi is much more important than my pride, Tomb Robber. I don't care what it takes to return him-." 

Bakura held up a hand. "You don't have to explain yourself to me." To Ryou's shock, he saw his other half attempt to place his hand on Yami's shoulder, but he stopped and placed it in his lap. "Let's go."

After several hours, however, the threesome was starting to lose hope. They had started at one, and it was now five-thirty. Dawn was coming, and there was no sign of Yugi. Yami was now driving slowly around the lower part of the city for what seemed the thousandth time. "Yugi-kun!" 

"Oy! C'mon, kid, where the hell are you?" 

"Yugi!" 

Bakura groaned. "We can't keep this up-unless you want to destroy whatever policemen show up to arrest us for disturbing the peace. Hey, why don't you just merge with him and take over?" 

"He has me blocked, as I've already told you twice." 

Bakura yawned. "Oh, did you? I'm sorry, I'm so tired I've forgotten." 

"Yugi-kun!" 

"Ryou, shut up. He would have heard you already." The gentler of the two white-haired youths sighed and stared out of the window. //Yugi-kun, where are you? // 

Yugi lifted his head from the pillow. For a moment he didn't know where he was, then he remembered. Ikuta-kun had said to come and sleep at his place. Ikuta himself was lying next to him, dark hair spread on his own pillow. "Good morning, Motou-kun. Or rather, good afternoon." 

"You too." Yugi reached for his clothes. 

Ikuta propped himself up on one elbow. "Leaving already?" 

"I have to go home at some point. Or the police will be looking for me." 

"Ah." Ikuta ran a hand through his hair. "Motou-kun?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Why do you do this? You're still pretty young. Doesn't your family care?" Yugi adjusted his jacket. "No. They don't. "

"I'm just wondering if you don't have anything more that you can do." 

"No," said Yugi flatly. "I don't." He leaned over and kissed Ikuta. "But you don't mind, do you?" 

"Not a bit. See you next weekend?" 

Yugi shrugged. "Maybe." 

"I'll look forward to it." 

Yugi picked up his bag. "All I said was 'maybe'." 

Sugoroku had his head in his hands when the exhausted company of Bakura, Ryou, and Yami stumbled into the house at around one-thirty. "You didn't find him." 

"No." 

"We tried!" Ryou looked close to tears. "We drove around and around and going to hospitals and everywhere and calling-" Bakura slipped an arm around Ryou's shoulders and whispered to him to calm down. "The police insist we cannot claim he is missing until he has been gone for forty-eight hours." 

"I should have been with him! If he ever comes back, I'll never leave his side, ever! Some guardian I am! I should have be protecting him." 

"He blocked you. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault." One would have expected those words to come from Yugi's grandfather, or perhaps Ryou, but they did not. Now Bakura went to Yami, and this time he did touch his shoulder. "You didn't fail. You tried to find him, and since you're a stubborn ass, you'll keep looking until you do." 

"No need to inconvenience yourselves. I'm here." 

"Yugi!" Sugoroku almost began to cry in his relief. 

"Yugi-kun!" Ryou ran to his friend, only to be pushed away. "Yugi-kun?" 

"Don't touch me. I'm going to take a shower." He pushed between Bakura and Yami and both recoiled. Ryou looked rather like a kicked puppy. "He's not hurt…thank goodness." Sugoroku, looking both relieved and defeated, followed his grandson, leaving the three youths to stare at each other. "He smelled like-" Bakura promptly stepped on Yami's foot and gave him a look that said, 'Not in front of Ryou,' and Yami amended his sentence with "-he needed that shower." 

Ryou looked rather depressed. "At least he seems okay…Yami-san, do you think I could make myself tea or something?" Yami nodded, and Ryou escaped to the kitchen. 

"So, you noticed too." 

"Noticed what? That he fairly reeks of sex and alcohol? What's happened to him?" 

Bakura shook his head. "I've seen this a million times. Something's happened to him, and the end result was his head getting so scrambled that he started to do this kind of thing." Yami moaned and sank into the sofa, head on his knees. "Don't start that." Bakura settled next to him. "I already told you, whatever happened to Yugi is not your fault and you did not fail as his guardian." 

"What would you know about being a guardian?" 

"Believe it or not, Pharaoh, I care about Ryou, very much. I would do anything for him-and now I understand that I don't have to hit him to protect him. So, I can imagine how it would feel to fail him." 

"But-."

"But nothing. You keep a better eye on him from now on, get stern, and use some of that bull-headedness." Yami felt two firm hands on his back start to massage his shoulders. "Why are you being so-sympathetic? You hate me, you mock me any chance you get, so why?" The other spirit didn't answer and only increased the pressure of his hands. "Tell me!" It was getting hard to yell; the white-haired youth's hands felt extremely good and did seem to relax him. "I never said I still hated you, stupid. Inbreeding will do that to a mind, I guess. And I'm over my desire for world domination." 

Ryou watched his other half. Bakura must be in torment, to be so close, but unable to act; not even he would put the moves on someone right now. Ryou was able to creep upstairs without either of them noticing, and he slipped into the unlocked bathroom. Yugi was sitting in the tub, eyes closed. "Ano, Yugi-kun?" The other boy's eyes flew open and he snapped, "Get out." 

Showing unusual spirit, Ryou shook his head. "No. Not until you tell me what happened last night. This morning. Whatever." 

"What do you care? It's none of your business, anyway." 

"Yes it is! People care about you Yugi-." 

"Shut up! No one cares about me!" 

Ryou stared at his friend. "Are you crazy? Yami-san cares about you, and your grandpa, and Jounouchi-kun and Honda-kun and Anzu-san and even Kaiba-kun. And I care about you too, Yugi-kun." 

"Shut up! Get out! If you cared then you would have-would have, oh…just go! Leave me alone, and stop lying to me! Get out! Go!" Yugi hurled something at Ryou's head. The boy was torn between going to his friend and running, but Yugi's cries had brought both Yami and Bakura. "Aibou-stop! What's wrong?" Yami went to his little partner in hopes of calming him, but the second Yami put his hands on the boy, Yugi seemed to lose control. He let out a shriek and started flailing his limbs, finally landing a wild blow on Yami's left cheek. The spirit released him-only to have Bakura step in and punch Yugi, right beneath his ribs. The boy dropped, and the other three youths relaxed, or in Bakura's case, fell against the wall. "Oh, my God." Ryou was in tears, sinking to the bathroom floor. Bakura turned to him. "What the hell did you do?" 

"I was just trying to talk to him. I didn't know he'd-he'd-." 

"Of course you didn't. Pharaoh, I'll take him home now." 

Yami shook his head. "Stay. I'm sure you're both tired. And-." 

"And you might need a hand later. Fine, if you've got a room to put us in." 

Yami felt Yugi wake up that evening. "Where-Yami!" 

"Yes, put this on." Yami slipped the puzzle over Yugi's head before the boy could protest. "You're not going anywhere tonight. Or any other night, for that matter. Your grandfather has forbidden it." 

"Am I supposed to care? Is he trying to set limits as a 'parent' now?" 

"He has always set limits and he means well by this." 

Yugi smirked. "Tell him he can take his limits and shove them." 

"Yugi! Why do you say such things?" The boy didn't answer. "I'll keep a better eye on you now. If you want to go out at night, we can go places together. I won't let you get into anymore trouble than you already have." He tried to reach for Yugi through their link, but ran into a block. It was very strange…it was like having a large gaping hole in his mind; Yugi must have still had him cut off completely.

"What would you care about me getting into any trouble?" 

"You came home smelling like sex and alcohol. And it's not the first time. A few nights before you came in glassy-eyed and you didn't even realize that you were wandering up and down the block and across the street-unable to walk straight, no less." 

"So?" 

"You don't need to be taking drugs, aibou." 

"What the hell do you know about what I need?" Yami pinched the bridge of his nose. That was about the third time that Yugi implied that Yami had his head in the sand. "I would *like* to know why you've suddenly felt the urge to turn into a delinquent. This staying up late is really starting to take its toll on-." 

"Oh, forgive me for inconveniencing you again! If it bugs you so much, just stop looking for me!" 

"You aren't an inconvenience. It's just that things feel like they're coming apart." Yugi ignored him and rolled over onto his stomach. "Please, Yugi, talk to me. Help me-."

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare ask for help now!" Yugi wrapped his small arms around his head. He began muttering to himself, and Yami couldn't make out anything else he said. After the last incident, Yami knew better than to try and touch him. So he sat until Yugi fell asleep, and then felt sleep begin to claim him too. 

Bakura, who had gone downstairs only to fall asleep on the couch, awoke to find Yugi opening the front door. "Where do you think you're going?" Yugi turned around in surprise. "I don't think so. Look, kid," Bakura got up and put himself between Yugi and the door. "I don't know what's going on with you, and normally I wouldn't give a rat's ass, but since you got Ryou and your stupid Pharaoh all screwed up over it, I do now. What, you think it's cool to take drugs and drink and fuck? You think it makes you manlier or something?" 

"Get out of my way." 

"No. You aren't going anywhere. Go back up to bed. Yami's standing up there, waiting for you. Go on." Yugi stared at him, then, having no other option, turned and walked back upstairs, where Yami was waiting. 

Yugi went to school the next Monday accompanied by Yami and Ryou, and Bakura came along merged with Ryou. The Puzzle hung from his neck, and the others were making cheerful conversation. Now that they were sure that he wouldn't go anywhere and be a bother to them, they were ignoring him. Of course, that was typical of them. They fancied themselves his friends when it was convenient for them, or in Yami's case, when he could spread his legs, and the rest of the time they couldn't give a damn. "Oy!" Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda had come up from the school. "Yugi! You're okay! What happened? We were-" Jounouchi stopped talking at the frantic 'no' gestures Yami and Ryou were giving him from behind Yugi's back. "So, let's go to class, shall we?" Anzu asked, dragged Jounouchi and Honda along by their coats. The others followed, each having at least one eye on Yugi. 

During lunch, while Ryou and Bakura watched Yugi, Yami filled the other three in on what was happening. Anzu looked like she was going to burst into tears. "Why is he doing this?" Yami didn't have an answer for her, and said so. 

"This isn't like Yugi at all," Jounouchi snapped. "What the hell happened to him?" "Maybe he should see a psychiatrist or something," Honda suggested. Yami shrugged this off, not knowing exactly a psychiatrist was. "I don't really know what's wrong with him. He keeps me blocked out entirely these days." 

"But why?" 

"I don't know! He keeps saying that we're lying to him, and that we don't care and I don't what he means!" Jounouchi gently squeezed Yami's shoulder, and settled next to him. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out. It's not like you're all alone." 

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Well, that's the end of the first chapter. It's my first time writing anything even quasi-serious, so let me know what you think. 


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